April 03, 2020

Greetings Liberty Tiger stakeholders,

Congratulations! Anyone reading this has made it through the most unique social situation we have ever encountered. Unfortunately we are only at the beginning of this situation in many ways, particularly with our delivery of a largely on-line learning experience. 

Thank you to all who have participated in the child nutrition program. We are serving MONDAY-FRIDAY at the side entrance to the cafeteria accessed via the main gate by the Superintendent's Office Building. We had a low turnout last Monday so please be aware that we are serving. ALL children 0-18 are eligible to receive breakfast and lunch daily whether they attend Liberty Schools or not. Your participation actually helps all children to be fed and offsets our costs to buy, prepare, and pay workers because we get reimbursed by the Federal Government for the number of meals served. The distribution times are daily from 9-10am. Today we expect that number to be around 200 students. Let's all applaud the cafeteria workers who are making great efforts and sacrifices to make this program happen. In addition to the breakfast/lunch program open to all we have also been distributing various food and supplies to families that need the extra help. Trina Evans and Dennis Casillas have been instrumental in keeping our Backpack Program alive along with other volunteers and Coach Todd Henshaw has supplemented this drive with all kinds of groceries he has managed to pick up from various charities. These extras are available on a first-come basis on Fridays at the Football Concession building at the same time as the cafeteria deliveries. Please contact us if you know of families who are in need but unable to pick up food at the school.

We were required to prepare a distance learning plan for review by the State Department of Education (SDE) this week. Here is the summary below:

Liberty Public Schools (72-I014)

DISTANCE LEARNING PLAN 

Liberty Public Schools has been working with multiple digital learning platforms for many years.  We will use a differentiated multi-tiered approach utilizing a number of digital and physical recourses to reach the diverse needs of all student populations. Engaging families and strengthening relationships will be essential to successful implementation of distance learning.  Liberty High School (Grades 7-12) will utilize its existing 1-1 laptop program.  The staff will communicate with students and parents via email, phone, Google Classroom, Google Hangout, and ZOOM. Multiple resources will be used to provide instruction: Google Classroom, Edmodo, IXL, Edgenuity, Kahoot, Zoom, and possibly others such as OETA and Rogers State University broadcasts.

Liberty 4-6th grades will also implement a distance learning plan beginning on April 7th and ending on May 8th.  The administration will communicate with staff through ZOOM, Google Meet, email, text, and phone with a weekly staff virtual meeting on Wednesdays at 10:00 AM.  The staff will communicate with students and parents via email, phone, Google Classroom, Google Hangout, and ZOOM.  Distance learning will begin April 7th with learning time planned to be approximately 120 minutes per day for 4 days weekly through May 8th. Staff will create weekly choice boards for students to choose learning activities using both online resources and resources available through printed materials and household items.  Choice boards will be available with needed materials for those students who do not have internet or device access. Parents may pick up these materials during scheduled curbside pickup times. Staff will make use of online resources including but not limited to IXL, EPIC books, MobyMax, and YouTube. Students will create and present a final learning project for each of their core classes to demonstrate learning. Projects options include but are not limited to artistic expression, exhibits, videos, speeches, presentations, journals, or research papers. The overall goal is to provide stability and support to both students and staff through this time of distance learning.

 Liberty Elementary (grades Pre-k through 3rd) certified staff will meet weekly (via Zoom) to plan for instruction and discuss any areas of concern that may need to be addressed.  Classroom teachers will be communicating with families at least twice a week using any of the following methods of communication: email, phone,  Bloomz, Class Dojo, Zoom and FaceBook closed groups. However, teachers will be available to assist anytime Tuesday through Friday 8-4. This schedule will be flexible to meet student/parent needs.  Teachers have developed Choice Boards for families to work from. This will allow for some flexible and fun learning for students.  Each teacher is delivering specific instruction to families on expectations. Ex: Choose two from each board 4 days a week.  The following resources may be used by teachers in order to build students skills and focus on essential state standards: differentiated weekly project based learning, IXL, Xtra Math, Spelling City, ABCya,  Starfall, Study Island, Prodigy .

Every student should have received a communication from their teachers by today but if you have any questions please consult the district website and look under "Staff Directory" at the top right to find the contact emails for all teachers and administrators. Also all school office and district office phones should be forwarded to an employee who will be working from 8-4 Monday through Friday. Great efforts have been made to include alternatives for students who are lacking connectivity or device issues at home and each school has a plan for ensuring physical packets are distributed. Please contact your principal if you haven't received directions. Above all don't panic because we are only expecting parents to do their best within their given situations. Just communicate your issues or frustrations with the teachers and principals and I think you will find they are able to make things work for you and your students. 

Please try to find answers to any questions or problems you may encounter by starting with individual teachers and then principals first, but if you cannot get answers or make contact you can call me directly at (918) 366-8496 ext. 102.

I sincerely hope you are seeing the positive in all of this turmoil but we will pull through these difficulties and come back together stronger for the experience. Let's thank God that we have no reported cases within our district and continue to practice the suggested behaviors that should keep us much safer than we are without the precautions. Take care and be well!

Phillip Garland, EdD